[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 3]
[House]
[Pages 3653-3654]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  THE PRESIDENT'S BUDGET IS INADEQUATE

  (Mr. PAYNE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1

[[Page 3654]]

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, during the first 6 years of the Bush 
administration, the President and congressional Republicans squandered 
away large budget surpluses that were left to them by the Clinton 
administration; yet they failed to properly fund key national 
priorities. Again this year, the Bush administration proposed a budget 
that ignores the real needs of American people, particularly at a time 
of such economic uncertainty.
  This week, congressional Democrats will bring a budget to the House 
floor that fully funds Medicare and Medicaid, the health care programs 
for the Nation's most vulnerable people, including our children and our 
seniors. Unlike the President's budget, our budget fully invests in 
environmental protection and low-income heating programs such as LIHEAP 
so that low-income families, including those in my district in New 
Jersey who are facing skyrocketing home heating bills this winter, will 
receive some much-needed assistance. We also fully invest in the COPS 
program so that we can better protect our streets against crime.
  Mr. Speaker, we do all of this without raising taxes by one single 
penny. This is a well-crafted budget, and it deserves strong bipartisan 
support.

                          ____________________